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Also write a saved message and everyone who books will have to confirm in writing that they know there is no smoking and that smoking will result in ___________ penalty. (cancellation, added cleaning fee)
You have cold weather and long bookings so that probably makes this a more common problem for you, but how common?
I thought you were going to post a picture with a text overlay that said “Smokers suck and blow.”
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@Spark I had never looked at your listing before- what a bright, lovely space. Very cool that there is a piano. And I love the couch with all the different fabrics- it looks like something I would make.
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We do write immediately upon booking, but if the instant-booked guest only realizes there is a problem at that point, it becomes awkward and we have to waste time managing the situation. Often they try to negotiate with the “we won’t smoke in the house” – not understanding that our neighbours (on our very quiet street) would prefer that some “strange guy” not be standing in front of their house every couple of hours leaving cigarette butts on the sidewalk (a municipal littering offence) on in their garden at the edge of the sidewalk; and we don’t want someone coming back into the house with cigarette butts and with smoke smells on their clothes and hair that transfers to the carpets, upholstery, curtains and bedding.
Bottom line is that people see “NO SMOKERS” and think it means “NO SMOKING IN THE BUILDING” when we actually mean “NO SMOKERS.”
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Actually it was designed specifically to “look like something you would make” 
When I lived in Victoria (Vancouver Island) that was the day-bed in my living room. I hired a freelance seamstress who was known as “the queen of slip-covers” (she did all the slip covers at the very fancy Sooke Harbour House heritage hotel rooms).
We went to the equally fancy Chintz & Co. together and picked out fabric – her assignment was to create a cover that looked like “someone’s grandmother went into the scrap-basket in her sewing room and pulled out a bit of this and a bit of that and made a slipcover from leftovers.” She also did a few matching pillow covers.
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About a quarter of our guests play the piano, and some (esp longer-stay) tell is it was a factor in choosing us. We had one guest who was staying for a few month while her condo-tower was being constructed. She had just moved from China, and her daughter took daily zoom piano lessons from China… guest even paid $250 for the piano tuner.
Before we realized what a draw the piano was, we wanted to move it upstairs… I used to play every day before that space was converted to Airbnb. We discovered that the doorway we had constructed to separate Airbnb space from the rest of the house was too small to move the piano… so it is now trapped in the Airbnb suite for eternity.
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This is literally something you can’t enforce. You can ask, you can cancel, attempt to penalize, etc, but you can’t prevent smokers from booking. I detest smoking as much as anyone but I’m not into tackling problems I can’t solve.
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Watch me! 
(We did it just last month)
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To be honest, I would have done too. Sorry.
I am a former smoker (stopped in 2017). In those days, when things were a bit more casual, I would assume that a no smoking apartment meant ‘no smoking in the apartment but outside is okay’.
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If you have to power to control what people do and tell if they are smokers or not without having met them, you should really be in a more lucrative line of work. Or, please prevent DJT from running for president of the US.
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Our listing states "This is a no smoking property (both inside and out)
if they instant book the messages states "Please respond confirming that all members of your party undstand This is a no smoking property (both inside and out). We live in a “Very high hazard brush fire zone” and this is an LA city law and condition of our short term hosting permit
This does not clearly express what I think you want to say. Maybe say “This is a no smoking property; no smoking anywhere on the property”.
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So… in your tinder dry area, is it legal if they go off the property and have a smoke while taking a quick walk in the public road?
Mine is overkill, “Please no smoking anywhere on the premises, indoors or outside.” Also No Smoking signs inside and outdoors on the deck and patio.
@Spark YEP! I love what you did and I am going to copy it for my listing 
It seems for the dimwits that don’t bother to read anything or the ones that simply have the attitude “your rules don’t apply to me,” we hosts have to cover ourselves in more places on our listing than we think.
I cannot tell you how many times I get confirmation of reviewing and agreeing to my House Rules (they even have to provide a CODE WORD), and I even ask them in a follow-up message if they particularly understand the NO SMOKING POLICY–DO NOT BOOK IF YOU ARE A SMOKER/VAPER section, and then they show up and attempt to smoke around the property. I have received over $1,000.00 in fines this year. May sound great, but I am extremely sensitive to smoke/smoke odor due to respiratory condition, so we are on a time crunch when this happens and new guests are checking in the same day. I cannot enter the listing until my maintenance team has thoroughly washed the linens more than once and they have sanitized the room and furniture to remove every single bit of smoke odor.
The Guest that just left was upset about the fee, and stated that he showered every single time so it’s not possible I could detect any smoke odor–you can’t make this stuff up 
@KKC This response is too funny 
Did he also get undressed before entering the unit and leave his clothes outside?
As someone who is a smoker myself who has quit and started again several times, while it’s not an excuse for guest behavior that ignores your rules, I wonder if some of those guests might have had the same thoughts that I have had in the past- “Oh, this will put me in a good situation to quit. I can’t smoke there, so I won’t bring any cigarettes and will be forced to quit.”
But it’s an terrible addiction and when the withdrawal kicks in, it’s easy to abandon the good intentions and go buy a pack of smokes.
I had a boyfriend who had quit smoking for 5 years. This was before the days of cell phones and he was waiting at a phone booth for a call about work. It was taking a long time, he was bored, and had a craving for a cigarette, so he went into the store next to the phone booth, bought a pack, planning to just smoke one and throw the rest away. By the time the phone call came through, he’d smoked half the pack. 
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I use request to book. My system automatically answers all requests and inquiries with general information and rules.
Included in the message and the house rolls and the description is that we collect a security deposit before arrival. The security deposit can be used to remedy damages, extra cleaning or odors like from smoking. I never confirm my request until a guest has responded that they have read and agreed to everything. If the guest has five star reviews from multiple stays or it’s a small group, I waive the deposit. If they have no reviews or are a large group which increases the chance of problems, I collect the deposit which could be from $300 to $600 depending on the size of the unit. Anyone who plans to have a party or make a mess or smoke in the unit usually disappears. We have almost no issues anymore.
I hope you are API-connected. Otherwise, you are not allowed to collect a security deposit.
Darn it, I should have asked him since we do have an outdoor shower 
The thing is, I, too, was a smoker. I started at the age of 13 and quit when I became pregnant with my second child. I developed severe asthma during my pregnancy, and since then, have been hospitalized several times from asthma. I also developed tumors in my vocal cords from smoking. These things forced me to quit, but as a previous smoker, I know all the tricks; that’s for sure 
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